


Plans of the Present

by CloverHouraisan



Series: Super Danganronpa 2 Reimagined [2]
Category: Dangan Ronpa - All Media Types, Super Dangan Ronpa 2
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Anal Fingering, Anal Sex, Boys' Love, Dirty Talk, M/M, Massage, Rough Sex, Spoilers, Super Dangan Ronpa 2: Dangan Island - Kokoro Tokonatsu Kokoronpa, Yaoi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-29
Updated: 2018-08-29
Packaged: 2019-06-19 20:30:34
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 10,071
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15517983
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CloverHouraisan/pseuds/CloverHouraisan
Summary: After the events of the main story of SDR2, Makoto, Byakuya, and Kyoko return to their branch of the Future Foundation to continue life as normal.  However, between the stresses of being bombarded by requests for public appearances, taking on Byakuya's old work as he transfers to the head of the 14th Division, and a call from Hajime about going back into the Neo World Program to restore his friends, Makoto finds himself stretched thin.  To find his solace, Makoto turns to Byakuya, his life partner, in the hopes that he can make his troubles go away, if only for a night.





	1. Abnormal Normalcy

**Author's Note:**

> Part two of the series! Again, more spoilers and gay sex, so be careful if you don't like these things!

It was another boring day at the Future Foundation's 14th division office.  Makoto was seated at his desk, practically falling asleep.  The day had been nothing but meetings, paperwork, and requests for press conferences.  It seemed that the Neo World Program was causing more buzz than he had anticipated.  The issue was divisive, especially when it came to the so-called Remnants of Despair.  Some people wanted them executed, some wanted them exiled, and others wanted them exonerated.  Having participated in a killing game already, Makoto knew what it was like to be ordered to kill people that were close to him, but he couldn't comprehend doing it and later finding out that even the graduation played into a greater scheme strung together by Junko long after her death.  Junko's involvement from beyond the grave was another interesting aspect of the issue that made it even more complicated than it already was based on the moral aspect alone.  In some ways, Makoto felt guilty for encouraging Hajime to defy the system and make his own path.  He was actively leading the five survivors down a dangerous path that could end up consuming them.  But at the same time, he felt like he could trust Hajime, Fuyuhiko, Sonia, Kazuichi, and Akane to go down the right paths.  Even so, the Future Foundation could only cover up so much for so long.  The press conference requests weren't dying down, and it didn't seem like they would die down even if he promised to reveal everything.  No matter which path he took, he knew death was waiting at every corner.  If he kept hiding his protection of the Remnants of Despair, other members of the foundation in other divisions could out him if they knew about it and didn't like him.  Coming forward with a public statement was also not an option since he would literally be walking into the line of fire by appearing publicly unless he made a privately filmed message, which he was certain not everyone would accept immediately for the possibility of it being dishonest.   
  
_What an interesting catch 22 this is turning out to be..._ he thought.  
  
Makoto heard a knock at the door.  Before he could say they could come in, the visitor entered anyway.  It was Kyoko Kirigiri, the Ultimate Detective and a fellow foundation member.  She had a stack of papers with her that Makoto could only assume were for him now that the former financial advisor Byakuya Togami was now the acting head of the foundation's 14th division.  
  
"Makoto, you'll be happy to know that most of these are my papers, not yours." Kyoko said, taking only twenty pages off of the top of the pile and giving them to Makoto.  "The first ten pages are a budget proposal, and the last 10 are reports of expenditure from last quarter."  
  
"Thanks, Kyoko." Makoto smiled weakly.  Kyoko's detective sense went off immediately.  
  
"What's wrong?  You seem out of it today.  No, you've been out of it this whole week." Kyoko sat down in the chair at the small table Makoto had off to the right of his desk and encouraged him to sit with her.  Makoto got up, almost dropping the papers he was just given everywhere, but catching them and putting them in his inbox before that could happen.  He sat across the table from Kyoko.  
  
"It's just that I don't know how long we can stay quiet." Makoto sighed.  "I promised Hajime and the others that I would protect them, but... I just don't know if that's viable anymore unless we do something about all the damage that Monokuma caused."  
  
"Makoto." Kyoko physically turned his head so that he was looking at her.  "It doesn't do any good to worry about what could happen because it hasn't happened yet.  You told them that they had the power to change their futures, and they used it to destroy Junko's AI.  Do you believe in your own words?"  
  
Makoto paused.  Kyoko was right on the money, like she usually was.  He would've normally responded to her by saying yes, he did believe in his own words, but things had gotten so bad that he wasn't sure about that anymore.  All he could do was look back at her vacantly.  Kyoko frowned.  
  
"Didn't the schedule say that Byakuya only had a half-day today?" Kyoko suddenly changed the topic out of the blue, and Makoto perked up at the mention of the corporate heir's name.  It was common knowledge in the 14th division that Makoto and Byakuya were romantically involved, and Kyoko knew that talking about his lover was a surefire way to get Makoto to smile genuinely at least once in the day.  
  
"Yeah, it did." Makoto replied.  "And about that, I'd like to ask something."  
  
"I'm not your boss, but go ahead." Kyoko had a hunch for what he was going to ask, but she let him finish his thought.  
  
"May I take the rest of the day off?  I think if I spent some time with Byakuya, I would be less gloomy and more able to focus." Makoto said.  He knew that Kyoko wasn't the one to ask, but it helped him to get his thoughts out.  
  
"I would tell you to go ahead, but I’m probably not authorized to do so.  I can cover for you today since I've got a good, fast rhythm going with my papers." Kyoko didn't usually like involving herself in other people's trifles unless it affected her in some way, but this time was a special case.  Makoto reached out and gave her a hug from across the table.  
  
"Thank you, Kyoko." Makoto didn't hold on for too long, knowing her discomfort with physical contact.  Makoto was always a hugger, so he couldn't help it half the time, but if it meant maintaining good relations with his coworkers, he was willing to change his ways a little bit.  "I'm going to check to see if there's anything I need to do before I go, and I'll see you tomorrow, okay?"  
  
"Of course." Kyoko replied.  "I'll be taking my leave—"  
  
Before Kyoko could take off, Makoto's office phone rang.  He got up and took the call, not even looking at the caller ID.  
  
"Future Foundation, 14th division, Naegi speaking." he said in his rehearsed customer service voice.  The voice that responded to him on the other end caught him completely off guard.  
  
"Makoto?  It's Hajime." the voice on the other end said.  "I wanted to call you sooner, but something came up and delayed it by a year."  
  
"W-What is it?" Makoto immediately went into crisis control mode.  "Are you okay?  Is the island safe?"  
  
"Y-Yeah.  The island's safe." Hajime tried to reassure Makoto from the other end.  "I would actually like to ask something of you."  
  
"Go ahead." Makoto held the phone with his shoulder as he handed Kyoko the financial papers from his inbox.  
  
"I want to know if we can data mine the Neo World Program and save the other Remnan—I mean, students from the school trip." Hajime corrected himself.  From that, Makoto could tell that he was probably taking a call in a public area.    
  
"Data mine... the program?" Makoto paused to think of an answer.  The idea Hajime had come up with never crossed his mind previously.  He turned to Kyoko, silently praying for her to come to his rescue.  
  
"Yeah.  We thought that because we only shut down the program, all the data should still be there as long as we can find the physical device it was loaded from." Hajime explained.  "We're assembling a team of data miners to help with this process if that will ease your concerns about manpower."  
  
"No, I'm not worried about that.  I actually was hoping we could try to save everyone else too." Makoto put the phone back in his hand again.  "But if the dead people's data is gone, what would you do?"  
  
"I'm... not sure." Hajime's tone shifted.  "But I promised the other survivors that we would find a way.  I need to think of something, anything."  
  
"Anything... huh?" Makoto said.  Kyoko was now at his side, having responded to his prayers.  
  
"Yeah, anything.  We'll go through it again from the beginning if we have to." Hajime sounded desperate.  "Please!  Just, give us anything!"  
  
"Wait a minute, say that thing you just said again." Makoto suddenly felt something click in his mind with Hajime's last statement.  
  
"I said we'd do it all over again from the beginning if we had to." Hajime responded.  "What did you see in that?"  
  
"I think you've given me an idea for another thing we can do." Makoto said.  "If I remember how the program was developed initially, we designed everything with two major assumptions in mind.  First, we assumed that you would complete what was asked of you without question.  Second, we assumed the program itself would run with minimal fatal glitches by the time it reached its final stages of development.  However, one of our key developers insisted that a failsafe be created in case the program did not run as expected or the players didn't act as predicted."  
  
"What did they do?" Hajime asked.  From the muffled door shutting noise, Makoto assumed that Hajime was at his home now and in a more private environment.  
  
"Once the final version of the program was quality checked and confirmed to be ready for deployment, our developers created a heavily-encrypted backup of the entire vanilla program and each player's personality before Monokuma was able to enter the program.  They called it 'Dangan Island: Huge Panic at the Heart-Throbbing School Trip'." Makoto continued.  "They separated out their backup onto a different disc from the main program altogether and kept it under heavy lock and key.  Not even the overall head of the Future Foundation has access to this."  
  
"Wow...  That's amazing!" Hajime sounded excited.  "Does that mean you're going to back up everyone from the Dangan Island disc?"  
  
"Well, not exactly." Makoto tried not to sound too foreboding.  "To successfully reload everyone's personalities from the program into their brains, you must complete the program."  
  
"I... see." Hajime replied.  "As long as we can stay safe from Junko, I think that we will be able to save everyone."  
  
"We will make sure that that won't happen this time." Makoto said.  "As a precaution, we destroyed the infected disc after we came back from leaving you on the island the first time.  Once we finish rescuing everyone, we may have to send you off to Jabberwock Island again in the real world to wait out the unrest our actions will cause."  
  
"That's fine." Hajime responded.  "I...  I haven't been able to live in Japan easily with the weight of everything that has gone on constantly burdening me.  I've had to move to Fuyuhiko's house to take myself out of the public eye and assure myself protection from any attempts at my life.  Even so, I have hope that my friends and I will find peace."  
  
"Speaking of your friends, please gather the remaining survivors in Japan in two weeks—" Kyoko suddenly took the phone from Makoto.  
  
"Four days." Kyoko said.  "All we need is four days to make preparations.  Meet at Tokyo Narita Airport outside of the checkpoint.  Byakuya, Makoto, and I will personally collect all of you and send you to the program facility."  
  
"W-Wait, who's this?" Hajime was confused.  
  
"My apologies.  This is Kirigiri speaking." Kyoko said.  "While you've been talking, I've put in calls to all of our programming team, and they've banded together to form a special cybersecurity unit.  They will be on the watch 24/7 to make sure no outside viruses interfere with the plan.  We are also making a second vanilla copy of Dangan Island with even more encryption as we speak.  Please put your trust in us.  We will save everyone."  
  
"K-Kyoko...  Thank you." Hajime seemed to get emotional for a little bit, but he quickly composed himself.  
  
"No problem.  I am ready for whatever the outside has to say about me and my actions." Kyoko handed the phone back to Makoto.  "I'm putting Makoto back on the line."  
  
"S-Sorry." Makoto stammered.  "I guess we'll be ready for you sooner rather than later."  
  
"Sounds good.  Fuyuhiko and I will call everyone immediately." Hajime's voice softened a little towards the end.  When a rougher voice sounded on the other end, Makoto realized that he was communicating with Fuyuhiko in the same room.  
  
"Tell them to pack their belongings, because they might have to stay at Jabberwock for an extended period of time.  We aren't quite sure about Sonia, since her standing as princess of Novoselic may offer her more leniency in returning home—" Kyoko interrupted Makoto once more.  
  
"Tell her to pack fully as well." Kyoko ordered.  "We cannot take any chances like we did the first time we ran the program.  Once we save you, we must keep you safe at all costs, even if it means exiling you out of Japan for months, if not years.  Please understand that this is a last resort tactic that I did not wish for us to have to employ.  We can talk compensation when we are in the undisclosed location for the second program's activation."  
  
"I see." Hajime said.  "I will let everyone know.  And together, we will save the rest of them.  Is there... anything you would like us to do for you once we are all saved?"  
  
"Don't put yourselves in danger." Kyoko said curtly.  "I would not be able to forgive myself if I let you reintegrate into a world that has rejected you.  Please stay on the island at all times.  We will update the security measures and add more recreational options for you if the current amenities prove to be insufficient."  
  
"I understand.  Thank you, Kyoko and Makoto.  I need to go now since Fuyuhiko's telling me to come to bed.  We will be ready for you when you need us." Hajime said, trying to wrap up the call as soon as possible.  "I will see you very soon and let you know when the last person has flown in.  Goodbye."  
  
"Goodbye, Hajime." Kyoko handed the phone back to Makoto.  
  
"B-Bye." Makoto stammered sheepishly as Hajime hung up.  He let out a sigh of relief.  
  
"Thanks, Kyoko.  As usual, you saved my ass again." Makoto chuckled.  "Want to join me and Byakuya for a meal tonight?  It'll be on his card, so it's our treat."  
  
"Thanks, but no thanks." Kyoko replied.  "I would feel like too much of a third wheel.  You don't have to do me any favors.  I'm just doing my job."  
  
"I see." Makoto seemed a little disappointed.  "Anyway, I think lunch is almost over anyway, so I should go eat and find Byakuya.  I'll see you tomorrow."  
  
"Have a good day, Makoto." Kyoko took her leave ahead of him.  Makoto gathered up his briefcase and locked up his office.  He knew the road ahead was going to be long and tough, but he had more confidence that now that they knew what they were doing better, they could stave off any future errors with more ease than last time.  All he could do was hope that the public would handle the situation well enough.


	2. The Commute

Makoto left the office and took his phone out of his pocket.  He dialed Byakuya's number without looking too hard and put the phone to his ear.  A few minutes later, Makoto was out the door, and Byakuya picked up.  
  
"Hello?  Togami Corporation, Byakuya speaking." Byakuya sounded so serious, even when taking casual calls.  
  
"B-Byakuya?  It's me, Makoto.  You don't have to be so serious." Makoto chuckled.  "Where are you right now?"  
  
"I'm at the Togami Corp. main office taking care of some small things before I head home.  Is there something you need my help with at work?" Byakuya asked.  
  
"Not really.  I want to tell you that I'm taking a half day today.  Kyoko's covering for me." Makoto explained as he got on a bus and paid for the ride.  
  
"I see.  Speaking of her, she called me a few minutes ago.  Apparently, a Mr. Hajime Hinata called in wanting to speak to you." Byakuya's voice was also somewhat muffled by the bustle around him.  
  
"I talked to him already.  Operation: Dangan Island is a go." Makoto dropped his voice to make sure nobody would hear him.  
  
"So it's begun already.  Just as I expected... of Kyoko." Byakuya led Makoto on for the compliment before promptly crushing his expectations.  
  
"Hey, I did most of the talking there!" Makoto pretended to be annoyed.  
  
"But Kyoko spoke where it mattered the most." Byakuya fired back.  "You just buttered him up for her."  
  
"You're mean." Makoto pouted.  "Anyway, I'm coming home soon.  I'm on the bus, and I'll be at the train station in a few minutes."  
  
"I'll pick you up at the station.  I just finished a Togami Corp. business call, so I'll be calling my driver very soon." Byakuya said.  "I'll see you soon, Makoto."  
  
"Yeah.  See you soon." Makoto got off the bus.  "I love you, Byakuya."  
  
"...I love you too, Makoto.  But don't make me say it in public, please." Byakuya's tone became a little flustered.  Makoto chuckled a little imagining the kind of face he was making right now before hanging up.  He waited at the stairwell to the subway for no more than 10 minutes before a limousine showed up at the curb.  Byakuya stepped out of it and walked over to his waiting boyfriend.  
  
"Hey," Makoto looked up from his phone game, giving Byakuya a hug since going for a kiss would be much harder considering their eight-inch height difference when standing side by side.  "You got here fast."  
  
"It wouldn't look good on me to be late." Byakuya gently patted Makoto's head, leading him to the limo and letting him enter first.  Once the doors were shut and locked, Makoto nestled himself against Byakuya, letting out a contented hum as the heavily tinted windows protected them from prying eyes.  
  
"Did you eat yet?" Byakuya asked, gently holding Makoto against his body.  
  
"No.  I wanted to eat at home." Makoto nuzzled his head against Byakuya's chest.  "I love your cooking."  
  
"It's not really my cooking, you know." Byakuya's face turned red.  "Half of the time, I call my chefs to cook for us."  
  
"No, I meant that curry you made.  I want more of it." Makoto looked up at Byakuya with gentle admiration.  Unable to resist the cute expression on his boyfriend's face, Byakuya kissed him.  
  
"Ah, yes.  That curry." Byakuya acted as if he knew all along.  "I labored over it for hours.  I'm glad you liked it."  
  
"Come on, reading a box doesn't take that long." Makoto joked.  He chuckled as Byakuya tried to stammer out a response in multiple different failed attempts.  
  
"S-Shut up." Byakuya looked away, his face burning with embarrassment.  
  
"You know I didn't mean that." Makoto tried to placate Byakuya with a kiss on the cheek.  "Come on, don't be a spoilsport."  
  
Byakuya let out a long sigh.  
  
"Fine, I forgive you." Byakuya reciprocated Makoto's cheek kiss with a peck on the lips.  "Anyway, are you sure of what you're doing?  It seemed that he was able to insert Junko in pretty easily."  
  
"But he and Hajime are now one, I think." Makoto explained.  "I think that without someone to put the program in, our vanilla back-up should work just fine.  On top of that, Kyoko's ordered 24-hour surveillance of the program's progress."  
  
"She's thought of everything too, huh." Byakuya looked forward out of the windshield to see how close they were to home.  "Well, what about the public?  This will have to be announced as well."  
  
"Don't worry about that.  I have a plan." Makoto replied.  "But let's not talk about it now.  I left work early specifically to relax and not think about these things."  
  
"All right.  Just be careful, Makoto." Byakuya's grip around Makoto tightened a little.  "I... don't want to lose you."  
  
"You won't, even if there is public outrage." Makoto tried to be reassuring, but he knew that it wouldn't be enough until he did survive public outcry.  A few minutes later, the driver informed Byakuya that they had arrived at their destination.  Byakuya got out of the car first, helping Makoto out next, and handing the chauffeur a check as payment last.  Once the limo drove off, Byakuya took Makoto's hand and walked with him into the skyscraper in front of them.  It blended in with all the other skyscrapers in Tokyo, but there were no offices or businesses to be found on any of the building's floors.  Instead, the regular floors were made into corporate housing for the Togami Corporation employees, and the top floor was a luxurious penthouse that Byakuya, and recently Makoto, called home.  They entered the front door and took a few hallways to a private elevator in the back of the building.  After a few minutes of waiting to get to the top floor, the elevator doors opened into the main living room of Byakuya's penthouse.  Even though Makoto had been there before, every time he came up, he would always get taken aback by how gorgeous it looked.  The floors were marble, the furniture was sleek and modern, and everything in the house likely cost thousands of dollars.  Makoto immediately took his shoes off in the entrance and went straight to the bedroom to change his clothes.  Once he was in his more comfortable layered jackets and black jeans, Makoto returned to the living room, where Byakuya was sitting at the kitchen table enjoying a glass of red wine.  He then went into the fridge to retrieve the pot of curry and put it on the stove to reheat.  While he was waiting, Makoto sat down next to Byakuya.  
  
"How was your day today?" Makoto asked.  
  
"Busy, as usual.  But it wasn't out of the ordinary." Byakuya replied.  "I guess you had it rough today, am I right?"  
  
"Yeah." Makoto sighed, getting up again to retrieve the leftover rice from the fridge as well.  "Doing your former job is so hard.  I hate all the math and such."  
  
"But you've learned pretty quickly." Byakuya took a sip of his wine.  "I'm not sure if there's much left for me to tutor you on."  
  
"There's always going to be something new no matter what." Makoto said.  "I don't think you'll be out of that job anytime soon."  
  
"I do enjoy tutoring you, Makoto." Byakuya gently caressed Makoto's cheek.  "You're always so excited to learn and so easy to critique."  
  
"Well, I do have the best teacher ever, right?" Makoto winked.  "Where would I be without the esteemed Byakuya Togami?"  
  
"Where would you be indeed?" Byakuya chuckled.  "Don't forget the curry's on the stove."  
  
"Crap, I almost forgot." Makoto rushed to the stove to make sure the curry hadn't burned.  To his relief, it was okay.  Makoto heated up the rice in the microwave and served himself and Byakuya a bowl of curry rice each.  
  
"I'm not hungry, but I'll humor you." Byakuya took the spoon that Makoto gave him and started eating after his partner sat down.  They ate in silence for a few minutes, enjoying the fruits of Byakuya's labor from the night before.  Before long, they were halfway done with their food, and Makoto spoke up.  
  
"Hey, Byakuya?" Makoto tapped his boyfriend on his shoulder.  
  
"What is it?" Byakuya responded.  
  
"Could you give me a massage later tonight?" Makoto made sure to give him the most convincing puppy eyes he could manage.  "I've been really stressed today, and I could use something to calm my nerves down."  
  
Byakuya acted like he was going through great pains to make a choice, although he had already made up his mind from the moment Makoto asked his question.  He wanted to lead him on for a little before giving him his reward.  
  
"Well...  I have some things I need to get ready for tomorrow," Byakuya watched Makoto for his reaction.  Now, his boyfriend was clinging onto him like a koala, still giving him a pleading look.  Eventually, Byakuya's patience ran thin.  
  
"All right, I'll give you a massage tonight after you shower." Byakuya enjoyed seeing Makoto perk up when he agreed to his request.  
  
"Thank you, Byakuya~" Makoto gently lowered his boyfriend by his shoulders to kiss him on the lips at eye level.  "I'll be looking forward to it~"  
  
With that, Makoto finished up his food and went to the couch to watch some TV.  Byakuya cleaned up after finishing his food and went to join Makoto on the couch.  It seemed that there was another news story about the Future Foundation's being tight-lipped on the channel that the TV had been left on previously.  Makoto promptly changed it to a drama program a few channels up, relaxing into Byakuya's arms and slowly drifting to sleep in his efforts to wash the current day down the drain.


	3. Tensions Released

Later that evening, Makoto woke up with his head on the couch cushion below.  It took him a minute to realize that he had slept through dinner, since Byakuya was nowhere to be found.  He got up and walked to the table to see a plate of teriyaki beef over rice waiting for him covered with plastic wrap and a note.  
  
_"Eat and come to bed.  You wanted a massage, right?"_ the note read.  It was simple, concise, and not very flowery, much like its writer was himself.  Makoto ate his dinner and cleaned up after himself quickly before making his way to the bathroom to shower.  He took what he thought was the fastest shower he was capable of taking and went to the bedroom in just a towel.  Just like he had promised, Byakuya was sitting on the bed, waiting for Makoto to come.  They greeted each other with a short kiss before Makoto rested his head on Byakuya's lap.  
  
"I'm here, as promised." Byakuya said, gently combing his fingers through Makoto's damp hair.  "Are you ready?"  
  
Makoto nodded.  
  
"I found the oil you really liked." Byakuya held out a bottle of peppermint-scented massage oil, letting the aroma waft to Makoto and further relax him.  
  
"Don't act like you didn't already have five other bottles of the stuff." Makoto joked, letting Byakuya get up to set up a massage table in the bedroom.  Makoto got up and moved on top of the table, resting his head on his arms so that Byakuya could still talk to him and make eye contact.  
  
"I'm going to start at your shoulders and neck, okay?" Byakuya oiled up his hands and let some of the excess drip onto Makoto's body.  It felt surprisngly warm for only having been in Byakuya's hands for a few seconds.  When Byakuya's hands came down onto Makoto's shoulders, the sensation was every so slightly ticklish.  Byakuya felt around experimentally, looking for the knots in Makoto's shoulders and neck so he could pinpoint his efforts on working them out.  Tonight, it seemed like there were more knots than usual, and the usual problems spots were worse than before.  Makoto really hadn't been kidding when he said he had a rough day.  
  
"Goodness, what's happened to you today?" Byakuya commented.  "You're worse than ever."  
  
"I've been feeling out of it all week." Makoto sighed.  "I haven't been able to place why, either."  
  
"Maybe it has to do with what Hajime called in asking about." Byakuya suggested.  "By the way, I'm going to start now.  Let me know if it hurts."  
  
Makoto had no time to make a response as Byakuya started, gently digging his fingers into his shoulders.  Makoto felt some pain where the knots were particularly hard to work out, but it wasn't enough to make him ask Byakuya to stop.  
  
"Yeah, maybe." Makoto continued talking as Byakuya kept working.  "I've felt guilty even putting them through this program.  However, I couldn't let them die.  Not without giving them a fair shot at redemption first."  
  
"Nobody could've predicted what happened." Byakuya responded, biting his lip as his thumb hit a particularly bad knot in Makoto's right shoulder.  It felt like he was rubbing his hands against jagged rocks.  "To think that Junko had even thought that far ahead to make her own AI was beyond my predictions."  
  
"Well, I guess we've done all we can in preparing for what happened, right?" Makoto winced a little as Byakuya pushed through the knot in his shoulder.  "We were able to save at least some people."  
  
"Indeed.  But why do you think it was those five?" Byakuya worked out Makoto's left side next.  "Do you think it has to do with the Hope Fragments?"  
  
"Possibly." Makoto replied, relaxing into Byakuya's touch further as his left side began to loosen under his boyfriend's fingers.  "When I checked the Hope Fragment data, the only characters with completed Hope Fragment collections were Fuyuhiko, Sonia, Kazuichi, Akane, and Chiaki.  There were a few others with one fragment left like Mikan, Ibuki, Gundham, and Nidai as well.  Everyone else had anywhere from four to zero fragments collected.  Hajime obviously found his own hope in himself, so we didn't need his fragments in the end."  
  
"I suppose that's one way to look at it." Byakuya moved onto Makoto's neck.  "Careful when you talk.  My hands are on the back of your neck."  
  
Makoto nodded before letting Byakuya work at his neck.  This was probably the most normal area on all of Makoto's body.  There were only a few knots there, and none of them were too bad.  
  
"Why do you think Izuru did what he did?" Makoto asked.  "I know Junko said that to shake Hajime's resolution, but I've never really thought much about it myself."  
  
"Her statement, and consequently her success, was contingent on Hajime believing that he was Izuru Kamukura all along.  She wanted to force his hand to graduate by preying on Hajime's fear of losing his identity and combining it with Izuru's pre-existing apathy for the world around him." Byakuya reviewed his own understanding of the event.  "As for how Izuru himself played into this, I can't say for certain what his role was.  By inserting Junko and Monokuma into the program, he made himself the mastermind in a way.  But I don't think that his intent was wholly malicious, especially if his being originated from someone like Hajime.  He was conceived as the Ultimate Hope, after all."  
  
"Nobody said that hope would be an easy thing to swallow, right?" Makoto looked up at Byakuya as best as he could from the massage table.  "I mean, when I became the Ultimate Hope, we were literally about to fail.  Hope doesn't really appear without despair informing its conception."  
  
"Maybe." Byakuya moved to the base of Makoto's neck after working the top.  "I'm going to move lower and start on your back."  
  
"Okay." Makoto put his head back down, resting on its side.  "Junko's understanding of human nature is... frightening, isn't it?"  
  
"Her exploitation of human weakness is even more frightening, if you ask me." Byakuya replied, starting his work on Makoto's back.  The knots here were even worse than the ones on his shoulders.  
  
"Sometimes, I wonder what could've been done to change her mind." Makoto said.  "I mean, behind all of the multiple personalities, Junko's a human too, right?"  
  
"As much as part of me hesitates to admit it, you are correct." Byakuya reoiled his hands and ran them up the sides of Makoto's torso, causing the smaller boy to shiver from the ticklish sensation and the coldness of the liquid.  "Something must have happened to sway her that deeply into despair."  
  
"Do you know of any Junko biographers?" Makoto asked.  "I want to know more about her life and what led up to the killing game the 78th class had to partake in."  
  
"There's not many around, considering none of them could get too close to her or any of her associates." Byakuya replied.  "I will let you know if a reliable Junko biography ever comes out."  
  
They remained silent for a while.  Byakuya intensely focused on the massage while Makoto occasionally let out a contented sigh or hum when Byakuya worked out a knot in his back.  The scent of peppermint fully enveloped the room now, creating a temporary paradise for the two Future Foundation members to mutually enjoy in each other's presence.  
  
"This might be a little out of the blue, but why do you think we're even doing this?" Makoto asked.  "How did the issue of hope vs. despair come to consume humanity as we know it?"  
  
"It's funny how you of all people would ask this, Mr. Ultimate Hope." Byakuya pressed into a knot between Makoto's shoulder blades using his elbow, biting his lip to deal with the resistance.  "To be honest, I'm not sure.  We honestly haven't been in it for very long, but we've been fighting the fight long enough for most of us to internalize our home team ideology so to say."  
  
"Don't get me wrong.  I'm not planning to jump ship or anything.  I just... wonder if this way is the only way." Makoto's eyes screwed shut from Byakuya leaning his weight into the knot between his shoulder blades.  He pulled on Byakuya's silk pajama top to tell him to ease up.  
  
"Honestly... I've wondered the same thing sometimes." Byakuya reduced the pressure and worked on another area to let Makoto recover.  "Unfortunately, due to our label in the public eye, we're all expected to behave a certain way, and any trepidation could be taken as outright betrayal."  
  
"I know." Makoto replied solemnly.  "But is the relationship between hope and despair really as simple as some people make it out to be?  For one thing, despair driven by a bad situation can incite hope to change it for the better, right?  In that sense, despair can be a good thing.  Likewise, hope for an unrealistic future can lead to despair when it doesn't come true.  In that way, hope can be a bad thing."  
  
"Exactly." Byakuya finished working on Makoto's left shoulder blade before moving to the right.  "I used to think of hope and despair as having a darkness/light relationship, but I think it's more complex than that.  It's true that hope and despair feed off of each other when both are present, but the reverse isn't true.  As we have learned from what happened in Towa City, an absence of hope does not lead to an absence of despair.  Rather, the absence of hope actually magnifies despair."  
  
"Does that mean... this struggle will never end?" Makoto asked.  "If despair will always be present even without hope, what's the point of what we're doing?"  
  
"Listen to yourself.  You're starting to sound like the rest of us did when Junko almost had us beat." Byakuya stopped massaging for a moment to just rub Makoto's back comfortingly.  "You worry too much for other people's sakes.  Even when you say you trusted Hajime to follow his heart, you call him back to us immediately like a child out past curfew."  
  
"That's because we were hoping he would stay on the island with the others until the whole thing blew over.  We had no idea they'd want to try and integrate back into society." Makoto sighed.  "But I guess he now understands why that's not viable.  It sounds like people have already tried to kill him for being a former Remnant of Despair."  
  
"They've made attempts at his life?" Byakuya was surprised.  "Well... considering what happened with the Warriors of Hope, I shouldn't be surprised that opponents of the Future Foundation would try to gun down anyone with a shred of involvement in the Foundation's actions."  
  
"He's with the Kuzuryu group right now, so he's likely safer than he was before, but to assure the Remnants' complete safety and recovery, we must send them off to Jabberwock Island again.  This time, for the long term." Makoto said.  "And why have you stopped massaging me?"  
  
"S-Sorry." Byakuya got back to work, returning to the knot in between the shoulder blades.  "You seemed like you weren't focusing, so I got lazy, I guess."  
  
"I-I was!  I could tell you stopped massaging me!" Makoto's cheeks puffed out a little bit.  
  
"You can be such a princess sometimes." Byakuya chuckled as Makoto pouted.  After a little effort, he finally got the knot between his shoulder blades out, eliciting a contented sigh from Makoto.  "I'm going to move lower."  
  
"You don't have to narrate every step." Makoto yawned.  
  
"I'd rather not risk getting kicked in the face for touching you in a way you didn't expect." Byakuya pinched Makoto's sides, and surely enough, his foot came up reflexively to kick Byakuya in the shoulder.  "I rest my case."  
  
"F-Fine." Makoto stammered.  "Keep being cheesy about it, then."  
  
"Anyway..." Byakuya started working Makoto's spine area, and he made sure to focus more deeply on what he was doing.  As he started from the base of Makoto's neck and went down, Byakuya started taking notice of the way his partner reacted.  In particular, the sounds he let out were quickly becoming increasingly questionable.  There were quite a few knots around Makoto's spine, but judging by the way Makoto would make a whining noise even when he wasn't touching a knot, maybe it didn't have to do with the release of tension at all.  Rather, it sounded like there was quite a bit building up.  Makoto found it increasingly difficult to stay still, especially since his spine was such a weak point on him, and it didn't help that Byakuya's hands were so smooth and lithe.  It only got worse as he stopped right above where his towel was.  Makoto tried to keep his voice down, but he was so pent-up from the stress of the week that he more quickly fell victim to his carnal desires.  Byakuya's face started heating up when he realized what was happening.  However, unwilling to take the risk of being scolded again for stopping, he kept going.  However, Makoto's moans were getting to him, and fast.  He worked a little faster, trying to get to his legs as soon as he could, but the sounds didn't stop.  In fact, they became even needier.  Finally, after Byakuya worked out a large knot that was slightly under Makoto's towel, Makoto let out a pleasured cry, falling limp a few short minutes later.  Byakuya gingerly stuck one of his hands down the front of his towel, and the sticky fluid that he felt confirmed his suspicions.  Makoto came just from having his back touched.  Makoto looked up at Byakuya, embarrassment coloring his face.  He almost yelped when Byakuya climbed on top of the table to straddle him.  
  
"You...  You never said that you were sensitive there." Byakuya said softly, as if there were others trying to listen in on them.  
  
"I thought you knew." Makoto panted.  "A-Aren't you going to take responsibility or something?"  
  
"If I knew you were going to be so whiny in bed, I would've gagged you." Byakuya got close to Makoto's ear, his warm breath tickling the skin.  "But then I wouldn't be able to hear you moan so beautifully like that~"  
  
"You liked it, didn't you~?" Makoto turned himself over to that he was facing Byakuya directly.  "I know you, Byakuya.  You like it when I moan about how much I need you, about how good you make me feel~  You like having power, being dominant over people.  Doesn't it make you feel good, Byakuya~?"  
  
Byakuya bit his lip as he grew increasingly aware of the tightness in his pants.  For being someone known for being painfully average in the real world, Makoto was shockingly kinky.  In reality, it was because Byakuya was so specific with his tastes that Makoto was able to learn him quickly and play him like a guitar, further complicating their power dynamic.  Byakuya looked down at Makoto.  His chest gently rose and fell with his soft, shallow breaths, and in the dim light from the outside, Byakuya could barely see that Makoto's cheeks were pink.  After a few minutes of stillness, Makoto suddenly grabbed Byakuya by the collar and brought him down to kiss him.  Byakuya was surprised for a moment before he relaxed into it, feeling Makoto's tongue against his own.  Soon, the massage was all but forgotten as they lost themselves in each other.  Makoto didn't even care that he just came a few minutes ago in his towel.  All he could feel was Byakuya's slightly oily hands exploring him all over.  Eventually, there was a moment of stillness between them as they caught their breath and looked into each other's eyes.  
  
"Byakuya..." Makoto's eyes were full of lust.  "Care to get this towel off of me?  I'm literally dripping with anticipation~"  
  
"You should've asked sooner." Byakuya moved down so that he was sitting on Makoto's legs and carefully unwrapped the towel.  Underneath it, he could definitely see the mess Makoto had made of himself.  Even so, he was still fully hard.  Byakuya held the towel between his fingertips, tossing it to the side with all the grace of an elephant.  
  
"I wanted to see if you could tell what I wanted without me saying anything." Makoto said.  "Now, can we get to the bed already?  My legs are hurting.  You're heavy."  
  
"I am not!" Byakuya got off of the massage table and lifted Makoto up with ease.  He dropped him onto the bed straddling him again and going in for another kiss.  Makoto moaned directly into it, his naked body fully out in the air now.  It didn't take long for Byakuya to start giving more attention to Makoto's collarbones, leaving marks wherever he could find free space that he hadn't marked before.  Byakuya wasn't shy about leaving marks on his boyfriend's neck and collarbones, seeing that it fed into his own lust for power and control.  Makoto didn't mind most of the time, but he would always get weird looks from everyone else at the office the morning after.  He wasn't sure if it was from the marks themselves or his being okay with Byakuya leaving marks on such easily visible places.  Even though leaving marks brought Byakuya great pleasure, he was always careful not to hurt Makoto.  There were times where he would occasionally draw a little blood in the heat of the moment, and potentially killing his boyfriend from a gesture of love, no matter how ridiculous of a fear it was, was a fear that never quite went away.  Once he felt satisfied with the trail of bite marks leading up from Makoto's right shoulder to his ear, Byakuya pulled away again.  
  
"You look... so gorgeous.  So perfect for me.  Just the way I like it~" Byakuya was by no means a wordsmith in the bedroom.  Not in the same way that Makoto was.  Where Makoto could bring Byakuya to the edge just by talking about how he wanted to be fucked, Byakuya was prone to some clunkers here and there.  However, he held his own in his own special way, communicating more through a combination of his actions and words rather than relying on just one over the other.  Eventually, Byakuya got off of Makoto's legs and pushed them apart, crawling up between them to start nibbling on his inner thighs.  Makoto let out some more lewd sounds, his cock twitching almost painfully.  Byakuya was so close, but not actually touching him where he wanted to be touched.  What made this even better was how sensitive Makoto was for not being a virgin anymore.  After letting Byakuya have a decent amount of fun with the sensitive flesh of his thighs, Makoto decided it was his turn to make the commands.  
  
"C-C'mon, Byakuya...  Touch me, please...!" Makoto bit his lip.  "Stop being a tease and fucking touch me already!"  
  
Byakuya looked up, his interest piqued by Makoto's sudden outburst.  A devilish grin spread across his face.  
  
"You think that was teasing?  Have you forgotten what I'm like when I'm actually trying to tease you?" Byakuya went right back to what he was doing.  "I suppose you've put up with this longer than I was expecting, so I can reward you.  Just a little."  
  
Byakuya snaked a hand up in between Makoto's legs and finally started stroking him.  However, that was not his true target.  Instead, his mouth went straight for his boyfriend's entrance.  Makoto gripped the satin sheets of their bed tightly.  Byakuya just loved to lead him on, didn't he?  Makoto was glad that the corporate residences were mostly concentrated in the first 10 floors so that nobody could hear him moaning this wantonly other than Byakuya.  
  
"You're noisier than usual, Makoto." Byakuya commented in between licks.  "I might have to invest in some soundproofing."  
  
"S-Shut up, Byakuya!  You're the one making me like this!" Makoto whined.  "G-Get on with it, already...!  Fuck me, please!"  
  
Byakuya grinned.  He loved that Makoto was playing directly into his hand.  He made quick work of his shirt and pants, leaving only his custom tailored silk briefs.  Makoto could only look on in awe, practically drooling at the sight.  Initially, Makoto didn't understand the appeal of briefs.  They almost looked like women's panties but with extra room in the front.  However, during the first night he and Byakuya slept together, he had an awakening when Byakuya walked out of the bathroom in nothing but his underwear.  Of course, it helped that Byakuya was rather slim for someone who didn't have a very active profession and didn't spare any expense on food, but in the soft candlelight of their first night as a couple, Byakuya looked like a perfectly sculpted model.  He had the faintest hint of muscle definition that made him look attractive, yet attainable, unlike most muscled beefcakes that other gay men were drawn to.  After Makoto had his first pair of custom tailored silk briefs, Byakuya threw all of his old multi-pack boxers out of the window to redo his underwear drawer from the ground up.  Granted, it was practically the same pair in different colors and subtly different styles, but Makoto appreciated the gesture because it helped him discover other things to love about his body.  For one thing, they did his hips and ass a huge favor by emphasizing them to their fullest, which Byakuya personally enjoyed immensely when taking Makoto's clothes off.  More importantly, it helped Makoto shed some of his insecurities about how different he and Byakuya were.  Even though they wore the same underwear, Makoto found the fact that the same briefs helped them both out in different ways to be beautiful.  In Makoto's eyes, seeing Byakuya almost naked but not quite was a sight that would never get old, especially when he could see how hard he was through his underwear.  
  
"Want some help with that~?" Makoto asked, pushing himself up so that he was level with Byakuya's crotch.  He slowly pulled down his underwear and marveled at the sight before him.  Maybe it was the height difference that made all of Byakuya seem bigger by scale, but every time he dropped his shorts, Makoto always asked himself how Byakuya managed to keep it in his pants as well as how he would manage to get it inside him without passing out.  Even with these questions, Makoto was more than eager to start sucking on Byakuya's dick as soon as he could.  Byakuya's hands immediately went to Makoto's hair.  He loved that Makoto was so eager to get straight to business.  Though their first few times were considerably more vanilla just to allow Makoto to ease into sex more easily, Byakuya never saw himself as a vanilla kind of guy.  He liked it fast and rough, which unsurprisingly deterred a lot of female suitors that his family would throw at him.  However, for Makoto, this only made him more curious.  To think that such a refined individual like Byakuya had that side to him was exciting, and once he found it in earnest, the fun only kept going from there.  
  
"Makoto...  Fuck..." Byakuya groaned as the warmth of Makoto's mouth sent a ton of sensations through his cock.  Makoto didn't start slow and speed up like he normally would on any other night.  Rather, he was going at it quickly and emphatically.  It seemed like he really needed this from the way he was acting so hungrily.  Byakuya didn't mind it at all.  In fact, he wished Makoto would be like that more often.  Even so, there were still times when Byakuya felt like he needed more sweet romance than animalistic fucking, and Makoto was more than happy to deliver either way.  
  
"Byakuya...  I need you." Makoto took some time to catch his breath.  "It's great in my mouth, but I know where we'd both rather have it~"  
  
"Oh?  Show me, then." Byakuya replied, playing along.  He let Makoto crawl out from under him to change position.  Makoto then got on all fours, arching his back and spreading his legs.  His pink hole was puckered and clean, shown off in full thanks to this new position.  It was sights like this that made Byakuya wish that Makoto would let him take pictures, especially when they went on conflicting business trips.  He loved seeing Makoto give himself up so easily, even if it wasn't the first time he was doing so.  As tempted as Byakuya was to use the massage oil, he had an uneasy feeling about the peppermint oil used to give the massage oil its scent, so he popped open a container of true lube from their night stand and coated some fingers in it.  He gently spread Makoto's entrance a little bit with his dry fingers and squirted some lube directly on it.  Makoto shuddered at the colder liquid dripping onto his hole, but the cold was quickly replaced when one of Byakuya's warmer fingers pushed inside.  Makoto cried out in shock, tightening around the finger on reflex.  Byakuya waited until Makoto was relaxed again to keep going.  He added another finger and scissored his boyfriend open more.  He then slid his other hand between Makoto's legs and resumed jerking him off from the previous position they were in before.  Makoto pushed back against Byakuya's fingers and wantonly thrust into Byakuya's hand, desperate for the tantalizing sensations brought on by Byakuya's touch.  
  
"I've seen you play desperate before, but I've never seen you act this lewdly on your own, Makoto~" Byakuya curled the fingers inside Makoto's ass, hitting his boyfriend's prostate directly.  Now that they had been together for a while, Byakuya was starting to learn Makoto inside and out.  For the first few times, finding the prostate was like finding a needle in a haystack, but now, he could reliably stick two fingers in, curl them at just the right position, and make Makoto see stars.  
  
"I-It's because I want you inside me so badly, Byakuya~" Makoto whined.  "I... can't hold back anymore!  Ngh...!  Byakuya!"  
  
Makoto came again into Byakuya's hand and the sheets below him.  However, he was still rock hard at the end.  Makoto had a lot of staying power, but not in the traditional way.  Rather than being able to withstand getting edged multiple times, Makoto would always cum multiple times per session.  Byakuya loved and hated this part of him at the same time.  He loved that Makoto could easily keep up with minimal breaks, but he hated the cleanup that came with it.  After removing his fingers from Makoto's entrance and his hand from his dick, Byakuya gave him some time to catch his breath before lining up his dick with Makoto's hole.  He pushed in about half-way, causing Makoto to cry out as he was stretched beyond what he was capable of doing with his fingers alone.  Byakuya paused to make sure Makoto was okay, bending over to kiss him softly on the cheek and reassure him about how much of a good boy he was being.  In truth, it had been a while since they last had sex, so Makoto wasn't entirely used to having Byakuya inside him yet, but he eventually adjusted, his walls gradually loosening around Byakuya to let him start moving the rest of the way.  Once he was all the way in, Byakuya hissed in pleasure, his hands resting on Makoto's hips as the smaller boy underneath him let out more beautiful cries of pleasure.  
  
"B-Byakuya...!" Makoto gasped for air.  "M-Move, dammit!"  
  
"Are you sure?" Byakuya asked.  "It's... been a while since we last had sex.  Don't you want to adj—"  
  
"What part of 'I want you inside me so badly' do you not fucking understand?!" Makoto's tone became more demanding.  "I said I wanted you to fuck me now, so fuck me now!"  
  
"Makoto...  Your wish is my command.  I'll make sure you can't walk tomorrow!" Byakuya growled, starting off with a ruthlessly fast pace.  Makoto yelped in shock again, but both of them were enjoying it so much that nobody felt the need to stop.  Byakuya pulled on Makoto's hair, relishing in the sounds his partner was making.  Makoto's head was pulled back in the process, releasing more pleasured cries into the air.  He felt so wonderfully full.  It was almost obscene how much he liked it.  Byakuya suddenly pulled out and changed positions, sitting back against the wall and pulling Makoto by his hips back onto his dick.  He used his other arm to hold Makoto's legs in the air while he thrust upward into him.  Byakuya looked around Makoto's left side, pleased to see their reflection in the huge mirror on the other wall.  He got a different angle of Makoto's hole being stretched around his cock as well as a look at his enraptured face.  Makoto used to not like seeing himself getting fucked because he thought it to be embarrassing, but after a while, he grew to love it as much as Byakuya did.  
  
"Byakuya!  Oh, god!   So good...!" Makoto cried.  Through his new angle, Byakuya was getting closer and closer to that spot, and once he hit it, Makoto screamed to the heavens.  It was a surprise to Byakuya that he didn't cum right then and there.  
  
"Holding back, I see?" Byakuya gently nibbled on the other side of Makoto's neck without the marks on it.  "Why not just let go?  You sound like you're almost there anyway~"  
  
"B-Byakuya...!" Makoto let out another long, loud moan as Byakuya slowly ground against his prostate.  Once he was on target, Byakuya attacked that spot as quickly as he could.  Makoto could barely form words anymore with how good he felt.  Because of that, Byakuya was only further egged on to keep going.  
  
"You're such a slut, Makoto~  You give yourself up to me so easily, like the good little bitch you are~" Byakuya dug his fingers into Makoto's hips, leaving indentations where his nails pushed into the skin.  Makoto held onto the rails in the head of the bed for support, his voice raw and sore from all the noise he made.  
  
"I'm so close, Byakuya!  Please, let me cum!" Makoto was starting to near the end of his rope, and Byakuya felt himself starting to unravel as well.  His grip on Makoto was incredibly tight as he pushed into him ruthlessly.  
  
"M-Makoto!  Fuck!  I'm close!" Byakuya gritted his teeth together as he neared the edge.  He could feel Makoto tightening around him and making it harder to move, which only made him apply even more force.  Without so much as a warning, Makoto let out one final scream and came all over his stomach and even a little higher up on his chest.  Byakuya pushed in once more and came deep inside Makoto, barely managing to groan out his name as he released into the other boy.  They stayed still for a while before Byakuya softened enough to start pulling out of Makoto.  He quickly scooped Makoto up into his arms before he could start leaking cum onto the sheets.  He walked to the bathroom and into the shower, turning the water on.  Both of them were relieved that the water hadn't cooled down completely yet when it hit their skin.  Once they were both wet, Byakuya let Makoto down onto the floor to see if he could stand.  Given that there was literally no time in between when they finished and this shower, Makoto almost collapsed to the floor.  However, Byakuya was there to support him before he could hit the ground.  
  
"Heh.  Thanks for the shower, Byakuya." Makoto chuckled.  "You always overdo it at the end, but you sure make good on your promises to make me unable to walk."  
  
"You know you love it.  Don't hide anything from me." Byakuya responded, gently leaning down to kiss Makoto.  "You need help cleaning yourself out, or are you fine?"  
  
"I-I'm fine.  Just gimme a second." Makoto lowered himself to the ground and opened his legs again.  He stuck a finger inside himself to help flush some of the cum out of him before he reached up for the shower head.  Byakuya grabbed it and gave it to Makoto, who flushed the rest of his insides out with the help of the shower head.  Once he handed Byakuya the shower head back, Makoto had to lean against him while he gathered their soap and shampoo.  He washed Makoto's hair first, then went onto his body.  Makoto probably would've gotten hard again if he weren't so spent, especially as Byakuya's hands moved to his crotch to wash his limp dick off.  As Makoto rinsed himself off, Byakuya began soaping himself up.  
  
"Hey, Byakuya," Makoto broke the silence that had been hanging between the two of them.  "Thanks for tonight.  I was really having it rough today, and even though I can't really stand on my own right now, it's helped me clear my head a little."  
  
"Well, you seemed like you were out of it, and I'd be a bad boyfriend not to help out." Byakuya gently rubbed Makoto's shoulder.  "You think you're ready to enact this grand plan of yours with Hajime and the others?  It's going to be risky to do this under the foundation's nose."  
  
"You underestimate me, Byakuya." Makoto tried to sound as confident as he could, but him buckling over from pain didn't help his cause.  "The facility was never touched since the start of the Neo World Program.  As long as I can gather enough people from the original team, we'll be back in in no time."  
  
"You say that as you're struggling to stand up straight." Byakuya took notice of Makoto's weakness right away, holding him up.  "But you know, you can't do this on your own.  Whether you want us to or not, Kyoko and I will be watching over you."  
  
"See, that's how I know I'm in good hands." Makoto smiled.  "It's because I had both of you that I could find it in myself to rally everyone to defeat Junko, and I think that it'll be because of you two that I can rally the team up again to bring all of the other former Remnants back to life and remove their despair."  
  
"Exactly." Byakuya gently held Makoto in his arms.  "We'll accomplish this together."  
  
"As for what to do afterward... I'll figure that out later." Makoto preempted one of Byakuya's possible questions for him.  "Let's just get out of the shower for now and go to bed already."  
  
"Sounds good.  I'm getting rather drowsy talking through all of this with you." Byakuya shut off the water and picked Makoto back up.  He dried them both off and walked over to the bed, gently laying Makoto under the covers before getting in with him.  
  
"You're not getting any pajamas tonight?" Makoto asked sleepily.  
  
"There's no point, seeing how tired I am." Byakuya answered.  
  
"Don't be surprised if I wake you up with a blowjob tomorrow, then~" Makoto pecked Byakuya's cheek before rolling over.  "Good night, love."  
  
"G-Good night, Makoto." Byakuya rolled behind Makoto, holding him in his arms as he drifted off to sleep.

**Author's Note:**

> I really like Makoto and Byakuya's dynamic from the first game, but my ideas about writing for them were mostly focused on the little bit of screen time they had in the last class trial of the second game. I don't have a clear idea of where I'll be taking the series from here, but it'll get updated once I figure something out (in several years). I have a Mondo/Leon AU story coming up, and a few others in other franchises as well, and those will probably take a lot longer to flesh out. Anyway, hope you enjoyed! Thanks for all that feedback stuff!


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